Bernhard Langer continued his legacy at The Senior Open Presented by Rolex, winning the event for the fourth time.
Langer’s legacy continues
Bernhard Langer started the final day three strokes behind 54-hole leader Paul Broadhurst, but even with his 62nd birthday on the horizon, the German showed that he cannot be written off under any circumstances at a Senior Major.
After equaling Gary Player’s record of nine Senior Major Championships at the 2017 KitchenAid Senior PGA Championship, he then set the new benchmark of ten, with his third Senior Open Presented by Rolex crown that same year.
He has now become the first person in history to lift The Senior Open Trophy on four occasions with his rock-solid final round of 66, surpassing Gary Player and Tom Watson’s three victories. He also became the oldest Senior Open winner. It was his 41st over-50s victory, having won 11 Senior Majors, 29 other PGA Tour Champions titles and one Staysure Tour event.
The greatest bids farewell
Tom Watson, arguably the greatest links golfer of all time, bid farewell to competitive play on this side of the Atlantic with a closing round of 73 at Royal Lytham & St Annes.
The five-time Champion Golfer of the Year and three-time Senior Open Champion announced on Saturday afternoon that he was making his last appearance in The Senior Open Presented by Rolex.
In addition to his three victories, Watson remarkably never missed a cut in 18 appearances in Europe’s only Senior Major.
Tom Watson plays his final shot of competitive links golf.
— Staysure Tour (@StaysureTour) July 28, 2019
Thanks for the memories, @TomWatsonPGA 👋🏻#SeniorOpen pic.twitter.com/YdcD8IcWbI
Lytham shows its worth
The fact that only nine players finished The Senior Open under par shows just how complete a test Royal Lytham & St Annes was this week.
Just as at Royal Portrush at last week’s 148th Open Championship, we saw the best and the worst of weather conditions as the greatest over-50s golfers in the world fought it out.
Langer’s four under par round might sound relatively mild, but it turned a three shot deficit into a two stroke victory on a course with 169 bunkers.
Royal Lytham & St Annes also showed its resilience in the extreme weather faced by the North West of England – 30 millimetres of rain fell in less than 24 hours.
Best for last
Through the first three rounds, no player had shot lower than a four under par 66, but on day four American Bob Estes made six birdies and only one bogey to card the low-round of the tournament, a five under par 65. The score moved him 38 places up the leaderboard and earned him a truly epic back-door top ten.
